Frontier Airlines adds new California link from Denver

Frontier Airlines’ inaugural flight from Denver was greeted in Bakersfield with a traditional water arch salute. The airline’s thrice-weekly service will compete with United Airlines’ twice-daily flights. Frontier joins United and US Airways as the only airlines operating scheduled services at the Californian airport.

Frontier Airlines, which last week announced 14 new routes from Washington Dulles, has added another spoke from its main hub at Denver, CO (DEN). On 16 May it began thrice-weekly flights on the 1,360-kilometre route to Bakersfield, CA (BFL) using its A319s. The route is already served by United Airlines who fly twice-daily using 50-seat CRJs operated by SkyWest Airlines. Frontier becomes only the third scheduled carrier at the Californian airport (known locally as Meadows Field Airport) which is dominated by United Airlines with 53 weekly departures spread across four routes. In addition, US Airways operates 23 weekly flights to its Phoenix hub. Announcing the route back in February, Richard Strickland, Director of Airports for Kern County, said: “The new air service offered by Frontier Airlines is a fantastic opportunity for the residents of Kern County to fly from Meadows Field to Denver. We are very excited that our hard work to attract new service has produced this ultra-low fare option for our travelling public to embrace.” See how this Bakersfield Airport’s fire truck water arch compares to others from around the world.